K12ELA006: English Language Arts 6

Unit 5: The Art of ArguingBeginning at a young age, most people discover that it is part of human
nature to argue. Just today, in 20 minutes of watching television with
my daughter, I observed a single character argue with siblings over who
had to do a chore, argue with a parent about getting a pet, argue with a
teacher over a homework assignment, and argue with a friend about what
to do for fun. Though the arguments people may make in life will greatly
vary, there is a single common denominator of every strong argument.
Substantial support, in the form of reliable evidence and relevant
reasoning, is the difference between a strong argument and a weak,
unsupported claim.

During this unit, you will learn to read argumentative writing through
the lens of a writer. You will write your own arguments and back them up
with research-based reasons and evidence. Additionally, you will create
a multimedia presentation that will add to your persuasive argument, and
you will engage in argument via a collaborative online discussion board.
Perfecting this art of arguing is a skill that will serve you well in
all aspects of your life, both now and in your future.

Unit 5 Time Advisory
Completing this unit should take approximately 19 hours.

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Subunit 5.1: 1 hour and 30 minutes

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Subunit 5.2: 2 hours and 15 minutes

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Subunit 5.3: 14 hours and 45 minutes
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Subunit 5.3.1: 5 hours

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Subunit 5.3.2: 2 hours

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Subunit 5.3.3: 3 hours and 15 minutes

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Subunit 5.3.4: 1 hour

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Subunit 5.3.5: 3 hours

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Subunit 5.3.6: 30 minutes

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Subunit 5.4: 30 minutes

Unit5 Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Cite evidence from fiction and informational texts to support a
claim or analysis or to answer questions about a text.
- Write logical arguments supported by evidence and substantial
claims.
- Research to gather information and evidence from relevant resources
to support a claim.
- Create a persuasive multimedia presentation.
- Engage in a variety of collaborative online discussions.

5.1 Reading Informational Text: Persuasive EssayYou will be reading and taking notes on a chapter about persuasive
essay writing from a Language Arts textbook. As discussed in the unit
introduction, arguing and persuading people is a life skill that you
have been and will continue to use throughout your life. Use the
information in this text to help you improve upon your persuasion
skills.

Instructions: Create a new section in your notebook and title it
“Persuasive Writing.” Then, begin reading the chapter excerpt
accessed through the link above. Stop to copy down the learning
objectives at the beginning of the chapter, and again to note any
main ideas or helpful tips that you come across as you complete the
reading. Pay close attention to the graphic representation of a
persuasive essay and add it to your notes. Also give extra attention
to the bulleted lists outlining what type of content is found in the
various paragraphs of a persuasive essay, as well as the “what to
do/what not to do” charts. All of these ideas will be helpful to you
later in this unit when you write your own persuasive essay.

Reading this lesson and taking notes should take approximately 1
hour.

Standards Addressed (Common Core):

- [CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1](http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/6/1/)
- [CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.1](http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/6/1/)
Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a [Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/). It is
attributed to CK-12 Foundation and the original version can be found
[here](http://www.ck12.org/book/Commonsense-Composition/r1/section/4.1/).

Instructions: Scroll to the bottom of the webpage that you read in
the previous subunit and find the five review questions. Below your
persuasive essay notes, answer each one of these questions in 1 -2
complete sentences, citing information that you read in the text in
your answers.

Answering these review questions should take approximately 30
minutes.

Standards Addressed (Common Core):

- [CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1](http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/6/1/)
Terms of Use: This resource is licensed under a [Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/). It is
attributed to CK-12 Foundation and the original version can be found
[here](http://www.ck12.org/book/Commonsense-Composition/r1/section/4.1/).

5.2 Reading Like a Writer: Persuasive ArticlesDuring the following lessons, you will read and analyze persuasive
articles. As you read, you will work to identify the author’s opinion
and evaluate his or her argument based on the evidence provided in the
article as support.

Instructions: Create a new section in your notebook and title it
“Persuasive Writing and Language.” Then, view the tutorial, take
notes on the slides that discuss persuasive language, and take notes
on persuasive language, word choice, and strategies. You will be
responsible for using persuasive language in the argumentative essay
that you will be writing later in this unit.

Watching the tutorial and taking notes should take approximately 15
minutes.

Instructions: Refer to the article that you just read and complete
the graphic organizer activity linked above. You will use the
graphic organizer to help you analyze the author’s argument and
persuasive language, and then evaluate the strength of the argument
and support.

Instructions: This article is one that you already read during this
course in Unit 1. However, I would like you to read it again and
analyze it to identify the author’s argument as well as examine the
facts and evidence that he provides to support his opinion. As you
read, annotate the article, focusing on the author’s opinions,
evidence, and persuasive language.

Reading and annotating this text should take approximately 30
minutes.

Instructions: Refer to the article that you just read and complete
the graphic organizer activity linked above. You will use the
graphic organizer to help you analyze the author’s argument and
persuasive language, and then evaluate the strength of the argument
and support.

5.3 Writing an Argumentative EssayThis series of lessons will guide you through the process of writing an
argumentative essay. You will first select a topic about which you have
a strong opinion, and then you will conduct background research to
locate evidence in support of your opinion. Next, you will write,
revise, edit, and then publish your argumentative essay.

Instructions: Create a new section in your notes and title it
“Selecting an Argumentative Topic.” Then, watch the tutorial and
take notes on the important ideas. You will be responsible for
selecting your own argumentative topic and formulating a thesis
statement about your argument, so pay close attention to the
examples provided in the tutorial.

After watching this video lesson, it is your turn to select a topic
to argue and support in an argumentative essay. Use the strategies
and steps (looking at news sources, making an interest list, etc.)
discussed in the video lesson to help you brainstorm and select a
topic of your own. Don’t forget to select a topic that is arguable,
not one that is a proven scientific fact.

Completing this activity and selecting your topic should take
approximately 1 hour.

Instructions: After defining your argument, it is time for you to
collect some evidence and data to support your opinion. As with any
research you will conduct, your supporting evidence should be
collected from multiple credible resources. At this point, you’ll
need to do some independent work to locate resources in books,
online, or by visiting places to collect information. Review your
notes from all subunits of Unit 4.3 for ideas about what types of
resources to use and how to evaluate those resources for
credibility. As you find and explore resources, fill in information
on the “Research Record” sheet provided in this lesson. You must
locate research information from at least three credible sources and
summarize your findings on the handout before moving on to the next
lesson. Be sure to focus on finding and recording research evidence
that is directly related to your argument and that truly provides
information that supports your opinion, not just information that is
related to your topic.

Locating resources and completing this research activity should
take approximately 3 hours.

Instructions: Use your research record and resources to help you
complete all of the activities described on the document linked
above. Focus most of your attention on crafting a strong argument
with at least three pieces of clear supporting evidence. The more
effort you put into your prewriting, the easier the writing process
will be for you.

Completing these prewriting activities should take approximately 1
hour.

Instructions: Create a new subtitle in your notebook titled
“Argumentative Writing Hooks.” Watch the video lesson and take notes
on the important tips and points made by the teacher in the video.
You will be responsible for creating your own attention-grabbing
hook in the argumentative paper you’ll be writing in conjunction
with this lesson, so pay close attention for helpful ideas.

After you’ve watched this lesson, it is time to use your notes from
the lesson as well as your research notes from the previous lesson
to help you start writing. On a computer, begin writing your first
draft. First, craft your engaging hook using the ideas presented in
the explanation above, and then continue writing the first draft of
your story. Be sure to refer to your prewriting plans to help you
clearly explain your argument, organize your paper, and provide
support for your opinion.

Watching this tutorial, taking notes, and writing your draft should
take approximately 2 hours.

Instructions: Add “Revising and Editing the Persuasive Essay” as a
subtitle in your argumentative writing notes in your notebook. Then,
watch this video tutorial on expectations for revising and editing.
You may fast forward it to the 30-second mark and begin watching it
at that point, as the first 30 seconds contains information
irrelevant to you from the teacher who recorded it for her own
class. Record in your notebook any helpful tips, information, or new
concepts that you learn as you watch it. Then, take the quiz
provided on the right side of the screen to quiz yourself on how
well you understood the information presented in the tutorial.

Watching the tutorial, taking notes, and completing the quiz should
take approximately 30 minutes.

Instructions: Use the revision checklist provided to revise your
argumentative essay. Be sure to check each item on the list and then
evaluate yourself. If you notice that something needs to be changed,
removed, or added to, make those revisions now. Remember that
revision is all about adding information and details where more
clarity is needed, and taking out unnecessary information. You don’t
need to worry about correcting spelling, grammar, and conventions
yet; that will come during the editing process.

During this revision process, you must use the sentence analysis
revision strategy discussed in the video tutorial that you watched
in the previous lesson to analyze at least 20 sentences included in
your essay. Use the sentence analysis chart that is part of the
revision checklist linked above to complete this part of the
revision process.

Revising your writing using the sentence analysis sheet and
revision checklist should take approximately 2 hours.

Instructions: Use this editing checklist to proofread your
argumentative essay for errors. Be sure to check each item on the
list and then evaluate yourself. What areas were your strengths? In
which grammar and convention areas do you need to improve? What can
you do to grow in these areas?

Editing your writing using this checklist should take approximately
45 minutes.

Instructions: You should already have a general familiarity with
bibliographies from the information that you learned in Subunit
4.3.6 of this course. This tutorial is a brief review of that
information, as well as a step-by-step instructional video on how to
write your own bibliography. You should refer to your notes from
Subunit 4.3.6 in your notebook and add any new information to them
as you watch this tutorial. Then, follow the step-by-step directions
shared in this lesson to create your own typed bibliography listing
the resources from which you gathered your information for this
argumentative essay. (You should have already recorded those sources
on your “Research Record,” completed during Subunit 5.3.1.2. Refer
back to that if you don’t remember all of the resources that you
used). Once you have typed your bibliography, add it as the last
page of your argumentative essay.

Watching this tutorial, reviewing your notes, and writing your
bibliography should take approximately 1 hour.

Instructions: The last part of your argumentative essay-writing
experience is to create a multimedia presentation that will serve as
additional means of arguing your case in a more creative manner. The
tutorial above gives a brief explanation of Prezi, a free online
presentation-making tool. You are not limited to using Prezi as your
means of creating a multimedia presentation; however, it’s a great
place to start if you don’t have any other preferred
presentation-making tools.

Once you have decided what presentation tool you want to use, you
should create a presentation that clearly depicts your argument and
at least three pieces of supporting evidence. It should also include
at least one audio element (sound effects, music, a sound clip, a
recording of your voice, a video clip, etc.), at least one graphic
element, and at least one video clip that relates to your topic.
Creating and sharing multimedia presentations will be a skill that
you will use often between now and high school, and even later in
your life when you have a job.

5.3.6 Collaborative Sharing and Discussion
- Activity: Publishing Your Piece
After taking your argumentative paper through the steps of the
writing process, it is now time to publish and share your piece.
Once you have added a bibliography to your final essay, you may want
to share your published work with others in the Saylor Foundation
Forums or on a
personal blog. You could also share it with family and friends using
the share options on Google Drive or by printing it off and
circulating a hard copy. Enjoy the results of your hard work in the
writing process - you now have a published piece of which you should
be very proud!

Publishing and sharing your final essay should take approximately
30 minutes.

Instructions: Open this assessment and preview the activity. If you
are unable to print out the assessment, copy the graphic organizer
and questions into your notebook. Once you are familiar with the
task you are being asked to complete, read the article in the
resource below and think about the argument that Wenonah Hauter
presents in the text. Complete the “Unit 5 Assessment” by thinking
about the article and locating specific textual details to fill in
the graphic organizer. Once you’ve completed the graphic organizer
and answered the associated questions, use the Answer
Key provided
to check your work.